Dark chocolate salted caramel donuts

It doesn’t get much more comforting than chocolate or donuts so combining the two makes it that much better. As the days get colder and the festivities of the holidays have passed it becomes all about snuggling in with comfort food and a good read around here.

While this recipe isn’t so much inspired by a place I’ve traveled to it is inspired by a place in my past. I can remember how special mornings were when we would get donuts from our local Mel-O-Cream in Springfield, IL. How as a kid you would get that warm glaze or the chocolate icing from the long john all over your cheeks as you tried to fit your little mouth around the big fluffy donut.

Even today my kids love having a special donut breakfast on the weekend. A little treat that feels like you are eating cake for breakfast, but this version is one you can feel good about.

Just a few notes about these donuts . . .

For our donuts, we used a donut pan that makes six larger donuts, but you could easily adjust this for a mini donut pan. This is the pan I use – Wilton Donut Pan

The caramel topping is a coconut date caramel from one of my favorite companies – The Date Lady – who I highly recommend you check out if you are looking for sweeteners and treats that don’t contain refined sugars. You could sub regular jarred caramel sauce if that is what you prefer or have on hand, but you will have to experiment with consistency and amounts.

Dark chocolate salted caramel donuts

• Author: Ashley
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 5-8 minutes
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: 6 donuts 1x
• Category: breakfast
• Method: baking

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Description

These dense and cakey dark chocolate donuts are suprisingly healthy and the perfect treat for a slow weekend morning. Topped with a little coconut date caramel sauce and sea salt and they are breakfast perfection.

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Ingredients

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• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup nonfat milk
• The Date Lady coconut date syrup or caramel sauce of your choice
• sea salt

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray your donut pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, vanilla, maple syrup, and yogurt until incorporated and smooth.
4. Add the flour and the milk to the yogurt mixture and stir just until everything is incorporated.
5. Transfer the batter to a large plastic ziploc bag and clip off one corner or a pastry bag with a large round tip. Fill each cavity of the donut pan evenly with the dough.
6. Bake the donuts for 6-8 minutes or until just firm to the touch. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes before turning the donuts out of the pan.
7. After turning the donuts out of the pan, spoon on 1/2 to 1 Tbsp caramel sauce on each donut and sprinkle with a little sea salt.
8. Enjoy!

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